Next of Kin

by Jae

  No answer.

  "Dawn?" she called again, this time more loudly.

  "I'm in here." The answer finally came from the bathroom.

  Aiden relaxed a little as she opened the bathroom door just a few inches and saw Dawn lounging in the bathtub. "Can I come in?" she asked carefully. She knew there were still days when Dawn hastily covered herself when she was surprised like this.

  Today, Dawn didn't cross her arms over her bare chest. Aiden had expected her to be a little upset about finding Kade held at gunpoint by a stalker and potential rapist, but to her surprise, Dawn didn't appear to be any the worse for wear. She just grinned up at Aiden. "Of course."

  Aiden left the flowers, her badge, and her gun outside and slipped into the bathroom. Steam filled the air, rising from the bubble-covered bathtub.

  The sight of the wet, glowing skin of her partner made Aiden's heartbeat quicken, but she held herself back. "There were flowers on your doorstep," she told Dawn.

  "I know. The delivery guy called through the door, but I was half-naked, about to jump into the tub, so I told him to leave them outside," Dawn said. She lifted one slightly wrinkly hand from the water to wave Aiden a little closer.

  Aiden obediently bent down to kiss her hello but didn't allow herself to linger for too long. She was too keyed up from the events of the last few days and her eventful shift. She felt as if she would somehow sully Dawn's purity by coming too close now. "Any idea who's sending you flowers?" she asked to cover the awkward pause as she interrupted their kiss.

  Bare shoulders appeared from under a mountain of bubbles when Dawn shrugged. "I think they're from Kade. She called me earlier and said to expect a delivery."

  Aiden whistled. "My, my, our DDA is getting really daring!" she said with a laugh. "First, she embraces Del in full view of the security guard and half of her detectives, and now she's sending flowers to other women!"

  Dawn flicked a bit of the foamy bubbles at her. "She's saying thank you. She thinks I saved her life."

  "You probably did," Aiden said seriously. She had battled a mix of emotions about Dawn's involvement in the arrest of Tracey Sheldon. She had been shocked and scared when she burst into Kade's office and found Dawn there. She had worried that it would cause nightmares and flashbacks and destroy some of the progress Dawn had made after her rape. She was even a little angry that Dawn had just risked her life without much thought, attacking an armed, crazy woman with nothing more than a thick compendium of laws. Most of all, though, she felt proud. "You are a hero," she declared and placed a crown of foam on top of Dawn's head.

  Dawn wildly shook her head, making the foam crown crumble. "I'm not a hero," she said with an incredulous laugh.

  "You are my hero – and Kade's and Del's," Aiden insisted. The situation held a certain irony. She and Del had been in an unofficial competition over who held the place of Kade's number one cop and protector. In the end, it had been the gentle Dawn who had done the rescuing while they had both been in the wrong place.

  The whole incident had given Aiden a new perspective on a lot of things. For one, she realized Dawn was no longer a helpless victim. She had taken control of a very dangerous situation and had come out on top of it. She didn't need Aiden or anyone else to protect her.

  At first, realizing that neither Kade nor Dawn needed her as a protector had made her feel like a failure. Now, after thinking about their slowly changing roles, she realized it wasn't quite so black-and-white. While Dawn didn't necessarily need her protection all the time, she would still want it on occasion, and Dawn was strong enough to protect and support her too. Dawn didn't need her to be perfect and strong – she just needed her to be herself.

  "You are the hero in the family," Dawn objected. "I was just lucky enough to have been at the right place at the right time."

  She sees me as her hero... and as her family, Aiden realized again.

  "So what did you do today?" Dawn asked while she lifted one of her legs out of the water to scrub her foot. "You're a little late. Did something happen?"

  "No, just the usual stuff," Aiden said. The "usual stuff" in this case included arresting a serial rapist, storming his apartment with the Special Emergency Reaction Team, Portland's SWAT unit and then interrogating him for seven hours straight.

  Dawn reached out and tugged on Aiden's belt with one damp hand. "Oh, I can imagine your 'usual stuff.' It probably sounds like a script from a cop show, with you as the heroine."

  "I told you I'm not a heroine," Aiden grumbled playfully. "And if this was a cop show, I would have been home hours ago. They always edit out the grueling hours of paperwork."

  Dawn laughed. "You look like you could use a little pampering. The water is still hot, so come on in and take a bath with me," she invited and moved back in the tub until her back rested against the edge of the tub.

  "No, I'm fine. Enjoy your bath. I'll just take a quick shower later," Aiden said hastily.

  Dawn didn't take no for an answer. "I would enjoy the bath more with you in here." She looked up at Aiden with a sensual smile. "Come on."

  Aiden reached for her belt, but then hesitated again. "Do we have the time? I thought you said we have to babysit Jamie and Tim tonight?"

  "Change in plans," Dawn said with a grin. "My mother is taking care of Tim, and Eliza found another pair of babysitters for Jamie."

  "Who?" Aiden asked. She knew Dawn's sister-in-law didn't trust just anyone with her ten-year-old daughter.

  Dawn smiled up at her. "Your sister and Laurie are taking Jamie to the skate park and will watch her until Eliza and Rick are back from their party."

  "Evan?" Aiden asked in surprise.

  "Unless you have another sister you didn't tell me about," Dawn teased. She sobered when she realized what she'd said. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to –"

  "It's okay," Aiden said. A few months ago, the teasing answer would have made her flinch. Now she was slowly learning that having siblings, even if they had been fathered by a rapist, was not necessarily a bad thing. "I'm a little surprised," she confessed. "I didn't think Evan would take anyone skating so soon. She felt so guilty after what happened with Laurie. She doesn't trust herself not to hurt the people in her care... and now she agreed to babysit?"

  Dawn reached down and tugged a shoe, then the other, and finally the socks off of Aiden's feet. Her damp hand caressed the sensitive skin of Aiden's ankle. "I think she's starting to see herself in a different light. She's beginning to realize she doesn't have to keep people at arm's length not to hurt them. Having you for a big sister has been good for Evan."

  "You think so?" Aiden wanted to believe it but wasn't sure how she could help Evan with the same issues with which she was struggling herself.

  Dawn seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. "Evan would never admit it, but she admires you. She got to know you and realizes you're a good person. Seeing you struggle with the same fears and doubts she has... It makes her realize how basically irrational they are. I mean... they're real and understandable, but they don't reflect who you truly are. Evan is too close to her own problems to realize her father holds no power over her life and her personality – none that she doesn't give him. She can look at you and your struggles more objectively. She knows deep inside, no matter how you came to be, you're not a bad person."

  Aiden was beginning to realize the same thing – about Evan and about herself. Wordlessly, she opened her belt and slid her pants down her legs. She could feel Dawn's gaze on her as she continued to undress. Her blouse followed and then her T-shirt, which was creased from wearing the bullet-resistant vest over it for half of the day. Finally, she opened the tiny clasp of her chain with the St. Michael's medallion and carefully placed it on the ledge beneath the mirror.

  Naked, she turned back around. She climbed into the tub on the side that Dawn didn't occupy and sank belly-deep into the bubbles.

  Dawn shook her head at her. "That's the way you bathe with your siblings when you're three years old, not the way
you bathe with your lover," she gently chided.

  "Oh, excuse me. I must have missed that page in the superlover handbook." Aiden playfully nudged Dawn with her toes. "So what is the required way to bathe with your lover?"

  Dawn made room for her between her spread legs. "Come here, and lean back against me."

  "Wouldn't it be better if I sat in the back?" Aiden asked, gesturing at Dawn's smaller body.

  "Next time," Dawn said. "Now come here."

  Aiden turned around and moved back until she was sitting between Dawn's legs.

  Dawn's arms wrapped around her from behind and pulled her back until she reclined against Dawn's chest. "Now, isn't that much nicer?"

  "Hmm," Aiden agreed, finally starting to relax for the first time all day, "and much softer than having the edge of the tub and the faucet in my back." She grinned back over her shoulder.

  Instead of answering, Dawn cupped her hands and poured warm water over Aiden's head. It took some time to get all of Aiden's hair wet this way, but Dawn obviously didn't mind.

  Aiden closed her eyes as Dawn shampooed her hair. Gentle fingertips massaged her scalp, and Aiden's head lolled back against Dawn's shoulder. It was soothing and relaxing, but there was also something very erotic about the experience.

  She almost groaned in disappointment when Dawn finally took her hands away. Dawn cupped her hands again and let warm water run through Aiden's hair, rinsing it.

  Aiden started to turn around, about to offer Dawn the same treatment, when she felt Dawn's soapy hands slide up her arms, lovingly cleaning every inch of skin with slow, circular motions.

  Aiden leaned back again. For once, she would just enjoy this. Dawn washing her was a cleansing experience in more than just one way. It felt as if Dawn was washing away all the guilt, anger, frustrations, and self-doubts of the last few months.

  Dawn's hands trailed down the outside of her thighs, circled her knees, and then bent one of Aiden's legs up to reach her calf. Aiden watched soapy suds slide down her leg, followed by Dawn's hand. Her skin tingled, and a tension of another kind began to build as Dawn's hand slid past her knee, more caressing than cleaning.

  Dawn stopped at her upper thigh, though, and gave the same treatment to Aiden's other leg.

  Frustrated, Aiden let out a groan.

  "Relax," Dawn whispered into her ear.

  "What you're doing to me isn't conducive to relaxing." Aiden groaned.

  Dawn pressed her lips to the nape of Aiden's neck. "Are you complaining?"

  Am I? With other lovers, Aiden knew she would have ended this little game of loving pampering and seduction a long time ago. She would have turned around and initiated a passionate round of lovemaking or would have whisked her lover away to bed. It wasn't that she didn't like a slower buildup every once in a while. The issue wasn't even that she was suddenly the one on the receiving end of this masterful seduction. But sitting here in the tub, being cradled in Dawn's arms without being able to see her, forced her to let down all of her defenses and made every touch so much more intimate and intense.

  "No, I'm not," she finally answered, realizing she was no longer so afraid of letting down her defenses. Not when she was with Dawn.

  "Good." Dawn nipped the rim of Aiden's ear. Her soapy hands trailed over Aiden's hips, tenderly stroked her stomach, and then circled her breasts.

  Aiden gasped.

  Dawn leaned forward to peer over Aiden's shoulder and into her face. "Was that an 'ouch' gasp or a 'do that again' gasp?"

  "A little bit of both," Aiden admitted. "I'm a little sore from wearing the bulletproof vest for most of the day." She hadn't wanted to tell Dawn about the ugly details of her workday, but now that it had come up, she realized that trying to hide it was stupid and unnecessary. Dawn was not fragile. She could deal with the dangers and the ugliness of Aiden's job.

  "So that was the 'usual stuff' you did today, huh?" Dawn teasingly nibbled on Aiden's ear. Her touch on Aiden's breasts gentled but never stopped.

  Aiden didn't answer. Her interest in the conversation was rapidly waning. The water and the bubbles made Dawn's touches feel like warm silk on her skin. Shivers raced up and down Aiden's body even though she was submerged up to her chest in hot water. She braced her arms on the sides of the tub, getting ready to turn around and capture Dawn's lips in a passionate kiss.

  Before Aiden could execute her plan, Dawn wrapped her legs around Aiden, holding her in place.

  Aiden was totally trapped now – and for a change loving every second of it. Feeling Dawn's whole body wrapped around hers was intoxicating. Dawn's breasts pressed intimately against her shoulder blades; her smooth legs were wrapped around Aiden's hips, and her center rubbed against Aiden's butt in a slow rhythm that made the water ripple around them.

  Dawn craned her neck and rained a string of slow, sensual kisses from Aiden's jaw to the corner of her mouth. Her tongue teasingly danced over Aiden's bottom lip. At the same time, one of her hands slid down from Aiden's breast. Her fingertips dipped into Aiden's navel before they trailed lower.

  Aiden surged around as much as she could in Dawn's intimate embrace. She captured Dawn's teasing tongue between her lips, playfully battling for dominance in a deep kiss.

  With her arms and legs around Aiden, Dawn hadn't been holding on to the edge of the tub. The sudden change in position pressed her back and down. Gasping for breath from their kiss, she swallowed a mouthful of water. She sputtered and struggled to sit up.

  Dazed, Aiden quickly moved back and let her sit up. She turned around and held Dawn loosely until the coughing stopped. "You all right?"

  "Yeah." Dawn wiped soapy water from her eyes.

  Aiden pulled her closer, enjoying the feeling of their warm, slippery bodies sliding against each other for another moment. "Come on," she said then. "Let's get out of here before one or both of us drown."

  "This always sounds so romantic in romance novels," Dawn complained, nodding down at the tub.

  Aiden kissed a few bubbles off Dawn's nose and cheek. "Oh, it is romantic, just not practical. Making love in the tub means that the person on top always gets cold from being half out of the water. Lubrication can also be a problem."

  "So you've done this before?" Dawn asked. Her cheeks were a little flushed from more than the hot water or their passionate foreplay.

  Sometimes Aiden forgot that Dawn had only ever been with two other people. It certainly hadn't felt as if Dawn was lacking experience a minute ago. Rarely had Aiden been seduced so masterfully. "You haven't?" she asked instead of giving details about her own sexual past.

  "No. I never felt comfortable enough to experiment like this." Dawn shrugged with a hint of embarrassment, her naked body sliding against Aiden's with the movement.

  Aiden was glad Dawn felt comfortable enough with her. She realized it went both ways. She had never felt as comfortable with any of her other lovers as she felt with Dawn. Tell her. She needs to hear this, she urged herself. "I feel safe with you too," she murmured with the side of her cheek pressed against Dawn's temple.

  Dawn moved away a little and softly touched her fingertips to Aiden's face. "I want you," Dawn said, looking intently into her eyes. "Now."

  A wave of heat shot through Aiden. Desire seethed through her blood. Dawn seldom had any problems communicating her wants and needs, but very rarely had she expressed her desire so directly. It was a powerful aphrodisiac.

  For a moment, Aiden felt her emotions and her passion rage out of control, and she fought to rein them in. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she looked into Dawn's eyes and saw the same passion reflected back at her.

  Dawn gave her a nod. It held a silent message – one that Aiden had begun to understand more and more during the last few weeks. Dawn didn't want her to rein herself in. She didn't need her to. Dawn loved her for what and who she was, not in spite of it.

  Blood roared through her ears. Aiden stepped out of the tub and wrapped her arms around Dawn, half lifting, half steadying
her as Dawn climbed out too. Her lips were on Dawn's the second they were both on steady ground.

  Their naked, still wet and soapy bodies pressed against each other, and they both moaned into the kiss.

  Dawn blindly reached for one of the fluffy towels. When her groping hand found it, she tore her lips away from Aiden's and gently shoved her back against the sink. She began to dry Aiden, softly rubbing the towel over Aiden's overly sensitive skin.

  When the towel teasingly circled her breasts, Aiden surged forward and tried to capture Dawn's lips in another kiss. Her hands covered Dawn's and drew them against herself with more force.

  "Not yet," Dawn said. "I have to dry your back first."

  "Not necessary," Aiden answered breathlessly. "You make me so hot that every drop of water should have vaporized by now."

  Dawn directed her to turn around despite those protests. Instead of using the towel to dry her back, Aiden felt Dawn's lips kissing away every droplet of water still lingering on her skin.